July 15 (day 17)

Before the homestay, I thought my experience would be much easier because I speak fluent spanish. Turns out I am actually having more trouble understanding my family than the other kids in my group. The thing is, my family comes from one of the many peublitos in the region of Valencia where they only speak Valenciano amongst themselves, which is a mixture of spanish, french, and portuguese. They learn castellano (spanish) at school because it is the law, but they rarely speak it except with their friends in the city Valencia, where few people speak that language.

Also, compared to my own family, the three kids are a lot less disciplined. Bad words and insults frequently pass their lips. Fights often erupt over silly things. My host parents rarely get in the middle. They usually just say "Ay, que tontos" (meaning, "oh, how stupid of them"). Never could I imagine myself acting that way with my own sister. Not only am I learning about a new culture, but also a new family life style.

I am noticing that most adolescents here are free to do a lot of things. The drinking age is 18 but it is loosely enforced. Everywhere I go at night, I am being offered all types of alcohol. Smoking is extremely common here too. Everyone smokes. And they smoke a lot. Its getting a little monotonous constantly rejecting offers to smoke too.

The discoteques are supposed to have an age limit of either 18 or 21, but if you're a girl, they rarely check for I.D.'s. Ferran was telling me this is because they want young girls to come in and help their business. I didn't know how to feel about this when he said that.

Since they eat dinner late (like at 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. or so), the time my host brothers and sister meet up with their friends to go to the discoteque is always past midnight. This freedom of staying out the entire night is definitely something I ever do at home. It can be fun sometimes, but other times just really tiring.

Last tuesday I went over to Ramon's place with Cesar to spend the day. His host family is a family of three with one son also by the name of Ramon. They were really friendly. I must say, however, that Ramon's host mother's cooking couldn't compare to Mari-Carmen's. We spent the day playing soccer and hanging out at a friend's pool. Seeing my friends again was great and I enjoyed listening to how their homestays were going.